Social selling is changing the way B2B companies connect with potential customers. Instead of cold calls and generic email blasts, this strategy involves building relationships, sharing valuable insights, and earning customer trust.
LinkedIn is the perfect platform for B2B social selling. This is why B2B marketers and salespeople need to learn how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn.
In 2024, 44% of marketers ranked LinkedIn as the top social media platform for B2B businesses and professionals.
With more than 1 billion members on the platform, LinkedIn is a goldmine for connecting with decision-makers, nurturing leads, and closing deals.
However, this isn’t just about sending connection requests and hoping for the best. You must develop a social selling strategy to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn.
Let’s get started.
What Is Social Selling?
Social selling refers to using social media to find and nurture potential customers. It’s about positioning yourself as a helpful expert in your niche so that prospects think of your brand first when they’re ready to buy.
LinkedIn is a go-to platform for social selling because it provides a way to measure how well you sell. It does this using the social selling index (SSI) score.
Here’s what contributes to the score:
- Building a strong professional brand
- Finding the right people
- Engaging with insights
- Building relationships
7 Ways to Use Social Selling to Drive B2B Sales on LinkedIn
When done right, social selling can help you build meaningful connections that lead to real business opportunities. Here’s how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn:
1. Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
One of the most crucial strategies to social selling on LinkedIn is building your personal brand. You can do this by optimizing your LinkedIn profile. You should treat it like a landing page that can attract high-quality leads, beginning with your profile picture and banner.
Your profile picture should be a professional headshot to showcase your expertise. Also, your banner should provide information about what your company does and your areas of expertise.
Another important thing to optimize in your LinkedIn profile is the headline. Instead of just listing your job title, show how you help other businesses. Your “About” section also offers ample opportunity to provide details about your work.
Ensure you focus on your audience’s pain points and how you solve them. When a prospect visits your profile, they should immediately understand how you can help them.
Here’s an example of an optimized profile for social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn:
2. Identify and Connect With the Right People
Having thousands of connections is nice. However, you must ensure that your connections are relevant to your business. As an Attrock expert says, it is one of the best LinkedIn marketing strategies for social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn.
So, how can you find the right people? A basic way to do this is to use LinkedIn’s search filters or go advanced.
Use professional automatic LinkedIn AI tools to leverage the full potential of AI LinkedIn and email outreach without hassle. They’ll help you connect with prospects to grow the customer base faster than manual processes.
You can narrow your search by industry, job title, company size, and location, then send personalized connection requests.
3. Engage with Content That Matters to Your Audience
Social selling isn’t just about posting relevant content. You should also adapt your sales processes to today’s trends, which involves engaging with the content of potential customers.
You can like, comment, and share the posts that resonate with you and your brand.
When you comment, add value to the conversation. Instead of just saying “Great post!”, share your thoughts on something you found valuable in the post or even a relevant personal experience.
Connect consistently and meaningfully with potential clients. This increases your visibility and brand awareness. Potential customers are more likely to check out your profile and engage with your content.
This strategy makes you top of mind in your niche, which is why it’s an essential step in how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn.
4. Leverage LinkedIn’s Messaging Features
LinkedIn’s messaging tools are powerful ways to generate leads, nurture relationships, and move leads further down the sales funnel. However, this isn’t the place for hard sells.
Instead, use messaging to deepen connections and offer help. If you’re in SaaS, integrating SaaS email marketing at this stage can help keep prospects engaged between conversations.
Also, if you’re on the premium plan, you can use LinkedIn’s InMail feature to reach out to people you’re not connected with yet. Remember, personalizing your message is an essential tip on how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn.
5. Move Conversations Offline
Social selling isn’t about keeping everything on social media. The goal when learning how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn is to transition from online conversations to phone calls or meetings.
According to AdParlor, LinkedIn is the most reliable social media platform for generating B2B leads. An effective social media campaign for LinkedIn can help you generate qualified leads. You can get inspiration from the best social media campaigns and apply them to your LinkedIn campaign.
Once you’ve built rapport with the prospect, suggest a quick call or meeting to discuss their needs further. Use a natural prompt like, “Let’s continue this over a quick call; when’s a good time for you?”
Moving offline builds trust, allows personalized discussions, and speeds up decision-making.
6. Build Credibility with Recommendations and Endorsements
Social proof is a powerful tool when exploring how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn. When potential customers see that others have had positive experiences with you, they’re more likely to trust you.
Ask your current clients, colleagues, or partners to write you a LinkedIn recommendation to boost your credibility. They can also endorse your skills, but you must ensure your profile highlights the skills that are most relevant to your audience.
If you’re an expert at B2B marketing, highlight it on your profile, as shown in the example below:
7. Track Your Progress and Adjust Your Strategy
When learning how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn, you must recognize that it’s a long-term game. This involves measuring your progress and adjusting your strategy accordingly to optimize results.
This is where LinkedIn’s SSI score comes in handy. Check the recommended metrics to know whether your strategy is working or not. If your strategy is working, you can replicate it; if not, you can make necessary adjustments.
With this guide, you’ve hopefully found out that learning how to use social selling to drive B2B sales on LinkedIn isn’t just about making sales. It’s also about creating relationships with prospects and offering value.
Remember, the key to success is consistency and authenticity. Focus on helping others, and the sales will come naturally.
